“My Grandmother’s Tattoos” film will be shown at Worcester State University

Commemoration events of the 97^th anniversary of Armenian Genocide are starting to be marked in the whole world. As Armenian Weekly writes on Wed., April 18, the Worcester “Aram” Chapter of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), with the Worcester State University (WSU) Philosophy Department, will sponsor the showing of “My Grandmother’s Tattoos,” a documentary by Suzanne Khardalian.

According to the source the movie is about a difficult topic. The movie is about Armenian women and girls who, during the 1915 genocide, were taken as sexual slaves by the perpetrators and other groups and often sold repeatedly for some years through a slave-trading network that emerged. The title refers to the fact that owners would tattoo their names on the chests of these women, who after some time often had multiple names tattooed on their skin.

A panel discussion will follow the showing of the film, with participants including Dr. Dikran Kaligian (managing editor, the Armenian Review), Khatchig Mouradian (Ph.D. candidate, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University, and editor of the Armenian Weekly), Sara Brown (Ph.D. student, Strassler Center), Maureen McShane (undergraduate, Honors Program, WSU) and Amanda Hewitt (undergraduate, WSU).

The film will be shown in the Ghosh Auditorium (ST 102), Science and Technology Building, at Worcester State University beginning at 7:45 p.m.